At Speedy You’re a Somebody – rises from the ashes like a phoenix

Listening to Age of Persuasion this morning on the CBC Terry O’Riley was talking about how slogans come from unlikely places and how many of the really successful campaigns are in fact Canadian. Apparently Jerry Goodis (penned many, many, many popular slogans you’ll surely know, and a famous Canadian) was having a terrible time coming up with a slogan for Speedy Muffler King. After puzzling for ages he wrote on a piece of paper, “At speedy you’re a Somebody” and promptly threw it out. This came from the fact that while his agency had done surveys to find out what were the top 5 reasons people chose mechanics, no one could agree on #1. There was no denying that #2 was “feeling appreciated”.

So, the boss comes in to check on his progress, grabs the crumpled up slogan out of the trash can and says, “Here’s your slogan!”.